What is your most valuable paid membership?

What is your most valued paid membership?

  • Aviation advocacy, e.g. AOPA, EAA, etc...

    Votes: 8 21.1%

  • Hobby/sport organization

    Votes: 2 5.3%

  • A professional society in your field, e.g. ASCE, etc.

    Votes: 9 23.7%

  • A military veterans or retirees organization e.g. VFW, etc.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Focused service organization, e.g. AAA, AARP

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • A charitable organization, e.g. Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • A political lobby

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Individual rights advocacy, e.g. NRA, etc...

    Votes: 3 7.9%

  • Gym/health club membership

    Votes: 9 23.7%

  • Other (specify in response)

    Votes: 7 18.4%
  • Total voters
    38
Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

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Many of us have memberships to various organizations and services. What is your most valuable one? EAA? AOPA? When I mean 'valuable' I mean the one that returns the most to you in a personal sense. And that could include philanthropy where you don't necessarily 'get' anything in return other than goodness of heart. I tried to include all the categories but I'm sure I missed some.

Mine is a no-brainer. If you know me, that is.
 
Costco.

Followed by my professional society.
 
Amazon Prime if that is the sort of service you are talking about.
I use it for several things that it offers.
Mostly the music, movies, free shipping, and photo/video storage.

I'm also EAA member, but it isn't a huge return for me. Nor was AAA or AOPA, AARP, or USAA (insurance).
HMM..that's a a lot of A's
 
I have subscriptions for lots of things but if I really thought about it I could easily live without all of them.

I guess Amazon prime is probably the one I use the most.

I'm a member of EAA but I couldn't even tell you why I just get the magazines and throw them in a little basket.

I need to go cancel some stuff
 
Well, considering bar membership is required for my job, I'd have to go with that.
 
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I generally try to avoid any kind of paid membership, although I have been roped into several over the years. The one that I feel like I'm really getting something for my money is EAA. Mainly because I can't camp in the N40 without it, but I also feel like EAA is working to preserve GA.
 
Do unions count? If so, I’ll say ALPA.
 
It's a good question. I let most of mine drop 20 years ago. I have to maintain an ISC2 membership for a cert I have to have for work. That's a little annoying, but far less than many people have to deal with, so I don't complain much. I used to be in ARRL because I kinda had to be, because I was part of the leadership of a local ham radio group. I used to have to be in NRA because I did competitive shooting and it was a requirement. Nothing against any of these groups, except junk mail, but I'm not really a fan of joining national level things. And yeah, I was in a union for a while, too, then got promoted out of that...not sure if that was a good move or not. Time will tell.

One thing I've noticed is that whatever local group I was in, there were always people that would volunteer to help with things, but didn't like to join things. Not sure why, maybe they didn't like paperwork, but I can respect their desire to stay below the radar.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Many of us have memberships to various organizations and services. What is your most valuable one? EAA? AOPA? When I mean 'valuable' I mean the one that returns the most to you in a personal sense. And that could include philanthropy where you don't necessarily 'get' anything in return other than goodness of heart. I tried to include all the categories but I'm sure I missed some.

Mine is a no-brainer. If you know me, that is.
Click to expand...
Couldn’t even click other. I don’t have any.
 
EAA. Without a doubt. Many people might not know, but EAA is part of the ASTC, which I forget what the acronym is, but it's an association of science-type museums, where if you're a member of one, you get into all the others for free. There are literally hundreds of reciprocal museums across the country that you can get into free as an EAA member. On our vacation last month, I think we hit 4 in the Washington/Oregon area, including the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. Easily saved a couple of hundred dollars.
 
EAA is fresh in my mind because I had a ton of fun at yesterday's fly-in/pancake breakfast.
AAA has bailed me and/or my wife out thru the years on dark and stormy nights when we’re broke down on the roadside.
HOA keeps up appearances.
PTA for providing the glue to the social fabric of our community’s schools.
Most of all ALPA, for watching over my safety and career progression.

Cheers to all the paid organizations that do the tedious, nitty-gritty work that the average Joe is unwilling or incapable of doing.
 
luvflyin said:
Couldn’t even click other. I don’t have any.
Click to expand...
I was hasty. Hadn’t thought of Costco as a membership but it is, we are and it’s probably worth it. And a gym, 24 hour fitness, worth it. I’ve had AOPA and EAA but let them go. PATCO many years ago until it committed suicide. I’ve contributed to a lot of charities that flood me with mail, snail and e. Never looked at those as being a member though. Got an airline mileage card with annual fee, maybe that counts as a membership.
 
Gym. The only thing that directly affects me everyday. Belong to the Aviation Alphabets and professional organizations AIAA and ASME plus Costco.
 
My gym membership probably.
 
Kritchlow said:
Do unions count? If so, I’ll say ALPA.
Click to expand...

Of course. I actually had unions on my initial list. If I could edit the list at this point, I would put it back.

It also looks like a few folks mention Amazon Prime. I'm not sure how to classify it (subscription rewards program?) But I might consider a distant second over my gym membership. I also belong to ASCE, AWWA and WEF, but I don't pay for them personally and I wouldn't. I'm only a member so the company can access reduced price publications and standards.

I was a member of AOPA a long time ago, but the only reason I signed up was to access online weather and flight planning tools that were, at the time, only available on AOPA. After that changed it just became another expense, and the shiny magazine wasn't worth that much.
 
In terms of daily use: coffee delivery service and YouTube premium. Pre-covid would’ve included my climbing gym but haven’t started that again. Library card would get a mention but thankfully that’s free (what a concept)!

Otherwise probably some advocacy orgs like ACLU, PP, HRC, UCS, AOPA.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Mine is a no-brainer. If you know me, that is.
Click to expand...

Lettuce wrapped burger of the month club?

For me it’s probably my Garmin InReach mini subscription. When bicycling, motorcycling, and flying in areas of no cell service, it’s good to know help is one button push away.

Second is probably my AirMedCare network subscription, in the event I need emergent medical air transportation.
 
Spotify Premium gets the most use. Usually daily for the trip to/ from work, wife uses it, too.
 
Nobody has an onlyfans?

Spotify or Hulu gets the most use. Rocky mountain elk foundation gets my support. Done a lot for public land access
 
AKiss20 said:
In terms of daily use: coffee delivery service and YouTube premium. Pre-covid would’ve included my climbing gym but haven’t started that again. Library card would get a mention but thankfully that’s free (what a concept)!

Otherwise probably some advocacy orgs like ACLU, PP, HRC, UCS, AOPA.
Click to expand...

...coffee delivery service?? What magic is this?
 
schmookeeg said:
...coffee delivery service?? What magic is this?
Click to expand...
I call it our “millennial coffee service” (yes I’m a millennial) because it features an IoT scale you put the bag of beans on and it automatically orders a new bag when we are running low. We selected a light/medium roast rotation and get a wide variety of roasters which is quite nice. We can also rate the bags so if we love one we can get them to send more like it or if we dislike it to not send it again. Also amusing to look at the data of coffee usage.

Link below if you’re interested.

 
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